Student Channel

Business student plays the role of judge at prestigious MOBO Awards ceremony

A BUSINESS STUDENT played the role of judge at Friday’s prestigious MOBO Awards ceremony.

Lavinia Goddard was asked to join the MOBO judging committee last month in recognition of her work for promotion company VineJuice, a business she co-runs that raises the profile of urban and contemporary Christian music.

The exciting role meant that Lavinia helped a panel of industry experts decide which artist should be nominated for a MOBO award in several of the different categories.

Lavinia said: “I felt honoured when the invitation came to join the MOBO voting committee. Vinejuice is still a young company but this opportunity is just another in a string of great opportunities that have come our way that encourages us that we are moving in the right direction”.

Lavinia juggles running Vinejuice with studying for her BSc (Hons) Marketing degree, and says she wouldn’t be able to do both if it was not for the support of some of the lecturers within Salford Business School:

“I had always dreamed of becoming self-employed and owning my own business one day. When I won the competition at University it presented the opportunity to start this new business with great support and mentors increasing the chance of its long-term success. The work that the University’s Enterprise Team do has been invaluable to me.

“Sunil Sahadev, Alex Fenton, Aleksej Heinze, Chris Procter from Salford Business School and Justyna Turner from the University of Salford Enterprise team have also been great supporters of this venture and encouraging to me from the beginning. It can be challenging to balance running the business with my degree, but it is all worth it when I can see the business grow and become successful.”

The business was set up 2015, after Lavinia won a competition run by The Enterprise team at The University of Salford, which led to her securing funding to start her own business.

Last month Vinejuice was approached by the MOBO awards to join committee.

The new venture is the latest in a string of successes for Lavinia, who has also helped to do promo work for BBC Songs of Praise and Christian music heavyweight William McDowell.

The MOBO awards are an annual ceremony which celebrates the influence of black music. You can watch the ceremony here.